Six things a real professional never does

Real agencies and casting directors evaluate new faces with digitals or polaroids: simple photos in plain, fitted clothes, natural light, no make-up, no retouching. That is the industry standard, in every country, and it is what you should send when asked for photos.

Requests for photos in underwear, swimwear "to see your body", topless or nude "to assess your potential" are not part of any legitimate assessment. Even for lingerie or swimwear work, the casting is done through a real, verifiable agency, in a studio or office, never through a private message asking you to undress first.

If someone asks for these photos, do not negotiate and do not send "just one". Stop the conversation, keep the messages, and report the profile where you met them. Photos obtained this way are also the raw material of blackmail.

A real job comes with facts you can verify on your own: the client or brand, the agency's name and office, a landline number, a website that exists outside the conversation, the names of people you can look up.

Scammers keep everything vague or "confidential until you're booked". They may send screenshots, logos or a website they made last week; none of that counts. What counts is what you can find and confirm yourself, from scratch.

Ask for the details politely and directly. A professional will give them gladly. Someone who dodges the question, changes the subject or gets annoyed has told you everything you needed to know.

Real agencies make money when you work: they take a commission from jobs they get you. They do not charge you to join, to be "activated", to appear on their website or to access castings.

The classic variations: a registration fee, a mandatory portfolio with "their" photographer, a course you must take first, an advance for travel or visa costs, or a cheque they send you that you must partly forward. Every one of them is the business model of a scam.

Never pay to be represented and never forward money you received. If you already paid, keep every receipt and message: they matter for the report and, sometimes, for getting the money back.

Pressure exists to stop you from doing the one thing that defeats a scammer: checking. It comes in three forms that usually travel together: urgency ("decide today", "the casting is tomorrow at nine", "places are limited"), secrecy ("the client is confidential", "don't contact the agency, they are not involved yet") and, when you still ask questions, hostility.

Real jobs have real deadlines, but never so tight that you cannot make a phone call first, and real professionals are glad to be checked. Someone who gets annoyed, calls you unprofessional or says you are wasting their time because you asked for a landline has told you everything.

Slow down on purpose. Say you will answer tomorrow after you have checked a few things, and keep asking politely for verifiable details. Anyone real accepts that without a fuss; anyone who reacts with pressure or insults was never offering a real job.

Legitimate castings and first shoots happen in agencies, studios and rented spaces during working hours. Bringing a friend, a parent or a partner to a first meeting is normal, and professionals are used to it.

A hotel room, a private flat, "my home studio", late evening, "come alone, it is a closed casting", "a companion would spoil the mood": any of these means the meeting is not about work.

Make it your rule: never alone to a first meeting, ever. Say it plainly. If they object, you have your answer, and you have avoided the most dangerous kind of scam.

On a modelling site or a serious social network, messages can be reported and profiles can be removed. On WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal or a personal email address, none of that is possible, and the scammer knows it.

The rush to "continue on WhatsApp, it's easier" in the first messages, before anything concrete has been said, is one of the most consistent tells of a scam. Real professionals are happy to keep talking where you met until there is a real reason not to.

Stay on the platform until you have verified the person and the job. If you did move, keep screenshots of everything with dates: they are the evidence a report will need.